what ways did the British Government attempt to hide the effects of the Blitz from the people of Britain?

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Introduction

In what ways did the British Government attempt to hide the effects of the Blitz from the people of Britain? During the Blitz it was vital for the British Government to hide the effects of the Blitz from the people of Britain. The three key ways Britain achieved this was by appointing Government Censors who would cut out negative information that might damage public morale and the war effort. Also, appointing more Government censors that would only allow positive information about how Britain was coping during the Blitz. Finally, having the Ministry of Information produce propaganda encouraging people to support the war and to help keep their hopes high about winning. Government appointed censors whose job it was to extract nearly all of the negative press from any sources of information. An example of the censors keeping information from the public is when reports of successful German bombing raids were written up but never published. Keeping this sort of information away from the people of Britain made sure that their morale was kept high and those they did not lose support for Britain. Similarly, information like the amount of damage caused to bombing targets like railway lines were never released to the public. This was due to the fear of giving away important information to German spies. ...read more.

Middle

The propaganda was vital in keeping up the publics hope at the time when the Germans' propaganda was at large. In result the propaganda produced by the Ministry of Information was fundamental in keeping up the morale high and British support up. Why were the major cities of Britain bombed by the Germans in 1940-41? During 1940-41 the Germans bombed some of the major British cities as part of an attack to invade Great Britain. Hitler decided to take this plan of action partly due to the fact that the Luftwaffe had failed to defeat the RAF in Battle of Britain. One of the main reasons for attacking major cities was that these areas were very densely populated. Dropping bombs on these cities would cause great loss of life and hopefully break morale in Britain - which was Hitler's primary objective. Because no one would have been prepared for the first attack on East-London the death toll was far greater. This was good news for the Germans because it meant that the morale of the country would decline due to the increase in deaths, this would lead to people loosing hope in the war and questioning whether Britain stood a chance of winning and was it worth it? Moreover, the devastation caused led to looting and wanton destruction that became uncontrollable for the police. ...read more.

Conclusion

It was not unusual for civilians to stay in the Underground during the night because fear had grown so much it was the only way they knew of keeping safe. This shows how upside down British peoples' lives had been turned around and what unusual things are now routine for them. Soon enough the Air Raid Precaution was set up. Their job was to ensure that at night all the blackout precautions were carried out. This was a big effect on the public due to the fact that every night ARP wardens checked each house to make sure their lights were out. The consequences of giving off any light from your home could result in Germans planes spotting it and bombing the whole area. Furthermore, wardens had to be told how many people were sleeping in each house so that if the area was bombed emergency services would not waste time searching for people who are not there. Although some people found these wardens intrusive it was a vital job to keep all lights off in order to prevent German bombing raids. In conclusion, the everyday lives of the British public were affected immensely during the Blitz. It had been a hard time but Britain survived the Blitz but at the enormous cost of thousands of peoples lives. The many raids left industry shattered and left many lives wounded. The whole nations routine was altered as each bomb fell and the death toll was incredible. ...read more.

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